The corner of Natasha's month turned up in the smallest of smiles as she walked into the kitchen. The smell of eggs and bacon hung heavily in the air along with the sound of the team's laughter. Steve was at the stove cooking, she had already known it was him because nothing was burning.(Tony was many things, but he was definitely not a chef.) Thor was sitting at the table devouring a plate of eggs that judging by the steam rising off of them, were fresh out of the skillet. Tony and Bruce were sitting at the table as well and were comparing notes.
As soon as she walked in the room, Tony looked up at her. "Hey, Widow," he said, "where's Barton?"
"Really, Stark. We're not attached at the hip and where do you think he is?" At this Tony and the rest of the team, who were all watching the conversation, glanced up at the air vents. After a confirming nod from Natasha, Tony groaned.
"Barton! Get the hell out of my vents!" The only response was a muffled laugh from the vent. "Barton! I'm not kidding, I have blackmail and I'm not afraid to use it!" After a moment or two the covering to the vent slid off and Clint popped out. He gracefully jumped out of the vent and landed on both feet right in front Tony.
"Hey, Stark," he said, "I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but you have really nice vents." Natasha zoned out as Tony started lecturing Clint about using the floor like a normal person. Clint loved to travel through the vents, something about them made him feel safe. They were also a great place to pull pranks from, for a while there he had Thor convinced the tower was haunted. It drove Tony crazy, he couldn't stand not knowing if Clint was right above him or not. He had even gone as far as putting locks on the entrances and telling J.A.R.V.I.S. to alert him if anyone entered the vents. Of course that hadn't worked, no lock could keep a highly trained S.H.I.E.L.D. agent out and Clint had easily hacked/persuaded J.A.R.V.I.S. into not telling.
After a while Tony and Clint quit bickering like five year olds and joined the rest of the team at the breakfast table. Things quickly fell into their normal rhythm of talking and eating. Halfway through the meal Pepper walked in. She smiled briefly at Natasha before walking toward Tony.
Tony glared at her over his coffee as she presented him with a stack of paper. "These are all the meetings you have today," she said pointing to a page, "And this is a list of all the things you have to get done," gesturing toward the rest of the pile.
Scowling he grabbed the stack, "budget meeting, budget meeting, conference call, charity auction," he said reading from the list. "Pepperrrrrrr, why?"
Natasha sent Pepper a sympathetic look. Tony was a real pain. She personally didn't know how she put up with him. Just as Pepper was about to respond the elevator door dinged open. Natasha internally groaned as Director Fury walked out. He rarely ever brought good news.
"Good," he said as he approached the group, "you're all in one place. That means I don't have to play freaking hide and seek to find you all."
Tony, unsurprisingly, was the first to break the silence, "but, but, J.A.R.V.I.S."
"Don't worry Stark we didn't permanently shut down your robot."
After the group lapsed back into silence Fury go to the point, "I have a mission for you. This is Mark Daniels," he said sliding a picture of the man on the table. Natasha leaned forward to catch glimpse of the image. He was a middle aged man of about 48 with small eyes, a large nose, and a short brown hair tinted with gray. "We have confirmed that he is buying up Chitauri artifacts left from the Battle of New York. He is using the tech to build some sort of robot army. Daniels is meeting with a seller at the Stark charity auction tonight." "Yes, your auction," he told Tony before the billionaire asked the question that was clearly on his mind.
"Romanoff, we're going to need you to go in undercover. Stark you have to be there, but everyone will be focused on you, so you going to have to sit this one out. Rogers, I want you Thor, and Banner in the building across the street in case they need backup. And Barton, I want you on the roof. You will have to take out the mark if he slips out of Romanoff's grasp."
"Here are the details," Fury said, setting a flash drive on the table. "Good luck," he said and promptly left, storming toward the elevator.
"Sooooo," Said Tony breaking the silence once again, "What does this mean?"
"It means," said Natasha standing up from were she was seated, "That we have a job, boys."
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Well there you go!!!!! I hope you enjoyed it!!!!!
Please let me know if you have any ideas and/or comments.
Disclaimer: I don't own the Avengers, again I wish I did, but I don't. I only own the plot.
